Under a new solid waste management contract approved Tuesday evening by the Dade City Commission, Central Carting Disposal will provide residents with blue recycling containers for their glass, plastic and metal cans.

Officials hope that will make recycling easier for city residents, who will no longer have to buy the blue bags for their recycleables.

The city also will save a little money under the new contract with Central Carting Disposal, who currently provides the city's trash service and offered the lowest bid to continue the service.

Residents will pay the same fees to the city as before, City Manager William Poe said.

But the rates that the city pays per residential unit will go down from $8.38 per month to $8.08 per month, and from $2.24 per commercial cubic yard to $2.16 per yard for waste pickup, which was documented in a memo by city engineer Lennie Naeyaert.

Commissioner Camille Hernandez said she would like the agency to provide free containers for citywide cleanup days, instead of the $150 per pickup listed in the contract. The commission came to an agreement with Central Carting Disposal for two free 30 yard dumpsters for one city cleanup, with the stipulation that the city would pay the tipping fee if the county did not waive it at the time of the cleanup day's dumping.

The commission voted to approve new rules for the Dade City Cemetery, including higher rates for cemetery plots.

The rates are now $750 for veterans, $800 for residents, and $850 for nonresidents. Space marking costs $25.

The commission also discussed ways to keep residents from vandalizing park property, specifically the bathrooms at Price Park, which are now locked against public use.

Poe said staffers were having a hard time coming up with a solution to the vandalism, and they were considering possible redesigns as a deterrent.

"We are going to have to do something," Hernandez said. "It's amazing what people do when others can't see them."